How should Mark Pope approach lineups with Kerr Kriisa out indefinitely?

Kentucky Coach Mark Pope will be without his PG2 for a while.

Dec 7, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Kerr Kriisa (77) knocks the ball away from Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Khalif Battle (99) during the first half at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats just got a massive win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs in Seattle, picking up their second Quad 1 and top ten win of the season.

Kentucky was down by a wide margin at the half but came back in the second half and got this game to overtime, where they won by one point.

Kentucky was without starting point guard Lamont Butler in this game, which meant Kerr Kriisa needed to step up. Kriisa had a solid outing but got injured halfway through the second half. On Sunday, it was announced that Kriisa would be out for 3-6 weeks with a Jones Fracture in his foot. Kriisa will have surgery to repair the fracture, but he will be out for a while.

The question for Coach Pope is what he will do with Kriisa off the floor. The good news for Kentucky is that Butler's injury does not sound like a long-term issue. Assuming Butler is back on the floor, that will help a lot, but the Wildcats will still need someone to relieve Butler.

Jaxson Robinson ran the point in the final ten minutes of the game, leading the Wildcats to a win over Gonzaga. He will likely see some minutes at point guard over the next few weeks until Kriisa is back on the floor.

Kentucky might also try to work Travis Perry into the rotation more, who saw two minutes of playing time in the win over Gonzaga. If Perry could keep getting better and better, it would be huge for this team.

Kriisa is a significant loss for the Wildcats, and hopefully, he will be back soon, but in the meantime, Coach Pope has the personnel to deal with this injury.